VC Artist María Dueñas Performs Julian Gargiulo's Violin Sonata No. 4

Watch the premiere full recording of the work, originally heard in the finals of the 2021 Getting to Carnegie Competition

In 2021, VC Artist María Dueñas was awarded 1st prize at the Getting to Carnegie Competition, now known as the World's Biggest Stage Competition. As part of the final, Maria performed the last movement of the competition's Founder and Artistic Director Julian Gargiulo's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 4 "From the Window."

In July 2022, the pair recorded the premiere recording of the full sonata in Ehrbar Saal in Vienna. Watch below!

“I wrote this Sonata during Covid and in fact it’s called ‘From the Window’ which is how we all were experiencing life back then," Gargiulo told The Violin Channel. "This Sonata holds a special place in my heart as it is the last composition of mine that my mother got to hear. I wrote the last movement in Italy, while visiting during her last summer in 2020.

"The recording was done in Vienna this past July — María Dueñas and I rehearsed intensely over several days as well as working on it with her teacher, the wonderful Boris Kuschnir," he continued. "It was a joy to finally meet María in person as the original recording of the 4th movement, which won her the 7th Getting to Carnegie Competition, was done completely online. She is such a cool, unassuming, 20-year-old kid you wouldn’t think she’s got the entire world looking on with bated breath every time she walks on stage — a true “superstar” of the violin. I’m more proud of these 18 minutes of music than anything else I’ve written so far. Happy listening."

María Dueñas is a former first and Grand Prix winner at the Leonid Kogan, Georg Philipp Telemann, Zhuhai, and Yankelevitch International Violin Competitions. She was also awarded first prize and audience prize in the senior division of the Menuhin Competition Richmond 2021 and named one of the 2021-2023 BBC New Generation Artists. Last year, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and will see her recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto alongside conductor Manfred Honeck and the Wiener Symphoniker released in May 2023.